Palomar, Pomerado Hospitals Assessed for Penalties by the State

The two hospitals closest to Ramona — Palomar and Pomerado — have been assessed with penalties by the California Department of Public Health for failing to follow patient safety policies.

Five hospitals in San Diego county were cited Thursday. They are among 12 medical centers penalized around the state, according to a City News Service report.

Palomar Medical Center was fined $75,000 for the death of a cancer patient on Feb. 9, 2010. The patient is reported to have received a dose of morphine 33 times stronger than she was supposed to receive. The Department of Public Health found errors in programming a pump that delivered the drug to the woman.

Pomerado Hospital was fined $75,000 as the result of the death of a patient who climbed out of bed, fell and suffered skull fractures and bleeding from his brain, according to the news report. The patient had been confused and agitated but was left unattended on Jan. 31, 2010. He died four days after the fall.

Scripps Encinitas Medical Center has been fined $50,000 for leaving a piece of medical equipment inside a 66-year-old woman last year. She had to have a second operation to remove the device.

Scripps Memorial Hospital was fined $75,000 for leaving a 28-inch guide wire for a medical device inside an 82-year-old patient's femoral artery two years ago.

Sharp Memorial Hospital was fined $25,000 for the death of a heart attack patient in 2008. According to the news report, a nurse who was deemed incompetent to work in the intensive care unit gave the patient an overdose of a drug.

The hospitals have 10 days to appeal. Otherwise, they have to submit plans to correct the problems to prevent future incidents.

Officials with Palomar Pomerado Health and Scripps Health said the incidents were self-reported to the state agency.

"Complete and thorough reviews were completed for each incident and extensive action plans were identified to address the issues,'' according to a PPH statement. "All follow-up actions were completed and accepted by the California Department of Public Health.''

Scripps Health also released a statement, saying new procedures are in place to prevent a recurrence of the incidents.

"At Scripps, we treat hundreds of thousands of patients each year with excellent outcomes,'' the statement said. "On the rare occasion where an error occurs, we work to understand the underlying cause and improve the quality of our care.''

Sharp Healthcare officials said nurses and pharmacy staff have gone through more training on procedures and safeguards when administering medicine through infusion pumps.